Maruchy Lachance is president of Running Ninja!, a lifestyle brand for runners by runners. Running Ninja! offers a wide variety of apparel and gifts for runners to keep you happy and inspired while you’re on the run.
As we approach the winter season many of us are finding ourselves battling annoying coughs, sniffles and runny noses. Sickness can often sideline our commitment to a healthy lifestyle. As tempting as it may be to wallow and indulge, your best bet is to stay the course while limiting your fitness routine, being mindful not to compromise your journey on the road to recovery.
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Think about the people in your life — who gets sick more often and more severely and who doesn’t? New research published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says that chances are, those who seem to always avoid colds or only suffer symptoms for a short blip are fitter than those who don’t.
Researchers looked at 1,000 adults’ respiratory health for 12 weeks during the autumn and winter of 2008. They also looked at the subjects self-reported data on how frequently they participated in aerobic exercise, their fitness level, what their lifestyle was like, what foods they ate and any recent stressful events, as all can affect the immune system. As you might imagine, the overall number of days of cold symptoms was different in winter and autumn — in winter the subjects had an average of 13 days of cold symptoms and 18 days in the fall.
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Pamela Ofstein is the Director of Nutrition Services at eDiets.com, a leading provider of weight loss services, information and products.
I wish I could say there is a flawless remedy for the common cold or flu, but really there isn’t one to date. Avoiding getting sick is the first line of attack. First, keep washing those hands; second, incorporate a healthy lifestyle (eating, exercising, sleeping, etc.); and lastly, avoid all those friends and family you know who are sick!
Here are a few things to eat to help you stay healthy, fight off infections, and boost your immune system (notice the abundance of antioxidants):
- Fruits and veggies (dark green, red, orange, and yellow fruits and vegetables)
- Foods with B-6 (lean meats, fish, nuts, seeds)
- Vitamin E-rich foods (nuts, mango, blueberries, papaya, pumpkin)
- Omega-3 fatty acids (salmon)
- Garlic (go for the raw garlic)
- Yogurt (I know it’s usually recommended to avoid dairy, but studies show that it can help reduce susceptibility to colds)
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Josie Maurer, creator of YumYucky.com, spreads the message of finding balance between fitness and your greedy side. She lost over 40 pounds after the birth of her fourth child through sensible eating and exercise, yet she still maintains her love for large slices of cake.
You’re sneezing and throat-hacking. You may cough up a lung. Your head feels 10,000 pounds heavy and your nostrils are host to a faucet of liquid boogers. Cold and flu season is approaching. Are you ready to do battle?
Germs are pretty sneaky. Today’s innocent sneezing fit could very well morph into a barrage of “I can’t go to work” cold symptoms by the time tomorrow comes. But there’s a way to put those symptoms in a headlock and quite possibly bounce back faster. There are 5 natural remedies you can wield against a cold.
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October is here, and it brought the cold and flu season with it. There’s a lot of little things you can do to protect yourself from these pesky and sometimes dangerous viruses. There are many tips for staying healthy during these winter months, like wash your hands, disinfect shopping cart handles, get a flu shot, and lose weight.
I did, in fact, say you should lose weight in order to reduce your risks of contracting the cold or flu this year. I really wasn’t surprised when I read about this. Obesity causes and exacerbates so many ailments including heart disease, periodontal disease and diabetes by impeding our immune systems. Past research has clearly linked obesity and the inability to fight off the cold and flu virus.
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